Wall Street analysts pestered new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz with all kinds of questions during her first quarterly earnings call, and she answered as candidly as she could, frequently pointing out the fact that she’s still learning the ropes and getting to know the business.

But Bartz couldn’t resist the chance to crack a joke when Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster asked her about Yahoo’s roadmap for 2009, and whether investors can expect any guidelines about when things might start rolling.

“Well, Gene, I thought I’d buy The New York Times tomorrow,” Bartz said.

Lest Munster think, even for a split second, that Bartz might be taking him up on his suggestion, Yahoo’s Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen clarified immediately: “She’s just kidding.”

And dashing the hopes of struggling newspapers everywhere Bartz reiterated: “I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding. Hi, Gene, how’re you doing?”

As for Yahoo buying The New York Times: what do you guys think? Is Munster on to something in his “An Open Letter to Carol Bartz“?

Nick Denton’s Gawker Media is parting with three of its blogs: political gossip site Wonkette, travel site Gridskipper and music site Idolator, dumping ballast in a stormy ad market.    
 
Denton put it simply in a memo to employees, first seen on Silicon Alley Insider:    

Why these three sites? To be blunt: they each had their editorial successes; but someone else will have better luck selling the advertising than we did. … it would be naive to think that we can merely power through an advertising recession. We need to concentrate our energies … on the sites with the greatest potential for audience and advertising. 
    

Here’s the details:
* Buzznet, a music social network, is buying Idolator after snapping up its main rival Stereogum.

* Gridskipper is being taken over by urban info site Curbed. Gawker holds a stake.

* Wonkette, founded by Ana Marie Cox, will be spun off to managing editor Ken Layne and become part of the Blogads network of political sites like Daily Kos. 

Financial terms weren’t released.
    
That leaves Gawker with 12 sites, including its namesake media blog, Gizmodo, Valleywag and Defamer.

(Photo: Reuters)